Chapter 16: 16 Foraging for Wild Vegetables

Chapter 16: Foraging for Wild Vegetables

After the Awakening of Insects, the spring rains arrived.

A misty, light rain fell silently, draping the entire field and mountainside in a faint, verdant haze—fuzzy and damp.

Song Sancheng had just finished settling the wages for the villagers. Smelling the scent of rain and earth outside, a smile finally touched his face.

"This rain came at just the right time."

For over half a month, they had been busy every single day. Wulan had to cook for a large group of people while managing the household chores inside and out.

Song Sancheng had to lead people to the fields for weeding, clear weeds on the hillsides, chop trees, trim trunks, and find time to build pigpens, chicken coops, and duck sheds...

The supplier of the mushroom spores had only just arrived this afternoon, and they planned to stay home tomorrow to inoculate the spores, so they had just settled a payout of tens of thousands.

Looking at the sky, it seemed even Heaven was looking out for them: it was raining!

Holding the ledger, Wulan sighed, "Tantan, your sixty thousand yuan is gone."

"Any further expenses will have to come from the support your father and I provide, and you'll have to follow our arrangements." Otherwise, she was truly afraid that if she loosened her grip, the money would be spent again.

Song Tan did some mental math—

The piglets hadn't been brought home yet, but since the pigpens were already built, her mother would have to pay for them whether she liked it or not. They needed to buy ducklings, which would also be an expense.

She wouldn't buy chicks this year; Grandma's place was already hatching some!

The hillside forest had been cleared, and all the seeds had been bought. The next step was inoculating the spores, which would require some labor costs, but there wouldn't be much else to spend on!

She nodded and asked the crucial question: "Mom, what are we eating?"

Wulan felt a surge of frustration. "We're out of money, so what is there to eat? Go! Take Qiaoqiao and go forage for wild vegetables on the slope!"

"Alright!"

There were so many sloping lands in the countryside filled with wild vegetables. Even just the depressions on the back slope of their own house had layers upon layers of them.

However, the peak season for foraging hadn't arrived yet, so there probably wouldn't be much—just enough for one or two meals.

Song Tan went to her room to pack up. After a moment's thought, she even grabbed her phone tripod: "Qiaoqiao, let's go foraging!"

Song Qiaoqiao had already rushed out of the courtyard impatiently: "Yay! It's raining! I want to splash in the water with Piggy Mommy!"

However, the rain was so misty that the ground only felt slightly damp. Where was the "splashing"?

Qiaoqiao fell silent.

The siblings scurried into the mountains like monkeys. Behind them, Wulan was still shouting, "Pick some wild scallions, and I'll stir-fry them with eggs when you get back!"

...

Having grown up in the mountains since childhood, the siblings moved swiftly. Midway, Song Tan paused to glance back at the crude pigpen on the back hill—

It was a large shed built of wood, with the roof tightly covered by branches and tarpaulin. Inside, the floor was raised high with stones. Although straw hadn't been spread inside yet, it already looked quite clean and tidy.

Raising pigs with such high activity levels would certainly result in delicious pork. But there was a problem: pigs defecate and urinate every day, and since their range in the mountains was too large, there was no way to build a dedicated manure pit. Song Sancheng had pondered this for a long time.

Eventually, he came up with a solution.

When the piglets were small, he wouldn't let them run around everywhere; otherwise, they might trip on the grass, tree roots, or rocks on the hillside.

At that stage, he would keep their enclosure small and dig a shallow pit to slowly toss the pig manure into. Gradually, the pigs would learn where to go.

Once they were habituated, he would expand their range step by step as they grew...

Whether it would work or not, Song Sancheng was raising pigs in the mountains for the first time; he would just have to try! At worst, it would take more effort to shovel the manure every day, which could be fermented into fertilizer later.

Bypassing this patch of woods, they reached a gentle slope halfway up the back mountain, where the bright green grass had begun to sprout.

Qiaoqiao was already pointing at a large cluster of lush green wild scallions: "Sis! Stir-fried eggs!"

Wild scallions, also known as sand scallions or mountain garlic, were much thinner than regular onions or garlic, even thinner than chives. Every time the family ate them, Qiaoqiao's task was to pluck and wash them, so she had a very deep impression of them.

Song Tan looked at them, feeling a bit hesitant: "These wild scallions are growing so well. Should we have them stir-fried with eggs for lunch, or stewed with crucian carp?"

Regardless, she decided to pluck them first.

It wasn't just wild scallions; by the edge of the woods, there was a cluster of freshly growing Malantou (purslane). They were a bit small, but certainly enough for a plate.

Then there were shepherd's purse, which were quite abundant, varying in size. Qiaoqiao had already happily started digging them up with her shovel.

However... there simply wasn't enough. Bringing the phone equipment along felt like a waste since there wasn't much worth filming.

She sighed, and then a thought suddenly struck her—

What was the current market price for wild vegetables?

...

After the siblings spent an hour or two out, Wulan took the vegetable basket and asked in confusion, "Did you two go down to the pond as well?"

"Yes, yes!"

Qiaoqiao's sleeves were mostly soaked, making it obvious she had enjoyed playing in the water.

Wulan sifted through the gathered vegetables: "This watercress is quite tender. I hope you didn't just pick them right as they were sprouting—how are we even going to eat this?"

Song Tan thought for a moment and decisively chose between shredded chicken salad and fish soup: "Shredded chicken salad!"

Shredded chicken required chicken breast, and who in the village sold chicken breast on its own?

Wulan ignored her: "Fine then, I'll go fry some Sichuan pepper oil. We'll have a cold salad for lunch. We've been serving meat and fish to guests these past few days; it'll be good to have something light."

"Why is there purslane here too? Just this little handful? We'll mix it in later."

There were quite a lot of wild scallions; looking at how neatly they were arranged, it was clear Qiaoqiao had cleaned them while playing by the pond.

Wulan seemed generally satisfied

"The crucian carp we caught last time has thawed out, so let's make a soup. For the rest, we'll do twice-cooked pork. Otherwise, eating only cold dishes in this weather is too chilling."

Finally, looking at the thick layer of shepherd's purse at the bottom, Wulan made a decisive arrangement: "We'll just make dumplings with these tonight!"

As someone who didn't cook, Song Tan had no right to complain, especially since she was quite looking forward to it.

Then, she brought up another matter

"Mom, the weather has been warming up lately. I think after this rain, the wild vegetables will grow like crazy. Should I dig more tomorrow and take the bus into the city to sell them?"

This time, Wulan truly looked at her with new eyes: "You want to set up a street stall? Have you ever even been to a vegetable market?"

Song Tan understood her meaning—the old version of herself would have been too thin-skinned and shy to do such a thing.

But now...

After returning and working for half a month, all the money had been spent. If she didn't show some results, she wouldn't know how much trouble she'd have to go through to apply for more funding next time.

Moreover, she had used this spring rain to draw a significant amount of spiritual energy toward the hillside and the pond. Tomorrow, she should be able to harvest at least dozens of pounds!

Wasn't she just testing the market first?

So, she patted her chest confidently: "Don't worry! I can definitely do it tomorrow!"

Song Sancheng, who had been silent, chimed in: "The bus leaves at six in the morning and has to loop around the town first. It won't get to the city until almost nine. Who's going to be buying vegetables then?"

"How about this, Tantan: you prep the vegetables tomorrow afternoon, but leave early in the morning. I'll ride my motorcycle to drop you at the junction, and you can catch the minibus there. That way, you'll arrive just in time for the morning market."

To put it in words you'd like to hear: there will be stock available today.

*Note: The menu in this chapter is inspired by "New Specialty Dishes of the Mountains and Fields."*

*Writing this while famished is too hard!*

*Tantan's first pot of gold is coming!*

*[People who actually go to the market to buy vegetables usually go early, and those who eat wild vegetables will naturally be early risers.]*